The Five_2
by Rjartty
Summary: Part two of a triology.


__________________________________________

# The Five

__________________________________________

Our heritage is lost, Earth

It is where our race was given birth. 

Can we clam it back? What we lost? 

Yes, destiny urges, "We must" 

__________________________________________ 

**_PART TWO OF A TRIOLOGY _**

__________________________________________

This is not good, not good at all, I said, for probably the millionth time, Jake, buddy, I know the Chee are covering up for us but man, what if we don't come back for let's say a year or so, we'd lose the war! 

He had no answer to that, Rachel did though, If we stayed on Earth, we'd have lost anyways. 

Tobias and Rachel were Hork-Bajirs, Ax, Jake and I were roaches on them. Cassie was with Iriskon on the bug fighter we docked to the blade ship, she'd be a two way communication line between Iriskon and us, also, she was there to make sure Iriskon didn't double cross us or anything like that. 

Okay, we're in the bridge. The Visser is pacing in front of the box and a dead Taxxon is in front of him, he's looking at a hologram, It's a live picture of where Iriskon was held, you know, the place where we got him? Tobias reported, And that's all there is aside from a couple dozen of terrified controllers. 

Brighten up the walls. The cold voice ordered, I felt evil radiate from it, I want this creature to know that we mean business. 

There was an odd silence. Then FOOLS! My brain was bombarded by the loud thought speak voice, You let it escape! I will have whoever it is in charge dead! Do you hear ME!? 

She's not there! Rachel yelled, Iriskon tricked us! 

Andalites! The Visser's thought speak voice went silky, You are here, are you not? I will have this planet do you hear me? It is going to be mine! MINE! No one moves! I'll have you all checked, if one of you has no Yeerk… 

He left it hanging. 

I'll kill that two-winged idiot! Rachel. 

Bail! Jake yelled. 

How? Tobias asked. Sounding only slightly hysterical, under the situation. 

Okay, stay cool. Jake said, We'll set up a distraction. 

You better do it fast, we're two bodies away from a check up! Tobias pressed. 

Okay, Marco, Ax and I are going to get off you, we'll scramble to the door and you stir up a commotion, then follow us outside with whoever chases us, I'll alert Cassie and see what Iriskon has to say. Jake instructed Rachel and Tobias, then to us he said, Let's go. 

I climbed down and shot away from the talon feet in a speed only known to the cockroach. 

I heard a mix of vibrations, some were voices and others where stamping feet. Then I saw a foot come down on me. Marco! Climb on my feet, Tobias got the others; we're out of here! 

I slowed down, braked and as the foot came down I attached my self to it and shot up the Hork-Bajir body. 

GET THEM! I will not tolerate failure! 

Then I heard Jake say, Everybody, demorph! Demorph! Ax, get us out. 

By the time I was demorphed and finished, we where tunneling through white space, Z-space actually. Like that means anything to me. Ax was at the helm. 

Rachel turned on Iriskon, and shoved a fist to his face. "Explain." 

Very calmly he said, "I believe she didn't need our help after all." 

"You-" 

Jake cut her off, "What are you going to do know?" 

"Isn't it obvious?" He muttered. 

"What?" 

"Contact my comrades, Spnix must have contacted them if she escaped like we did." 

Iriskon turned to one of the computers and ordered a transmission to a ship with a number that I couldn't remember, for a few minutes nothing happened, so he had been lying to us, but why…? 

"Commander!" A hologram appeared and a face of a Five stared at Iriskon, "Spinx had been concerned, we were worried too, we thought you wouldn't make it." 

"Bilken!" Iriskon greeted, he cocked his ears at the Five. "Do you have her frequency? I need to discus a few things with her." 

Bilken nodded, he wasn't like Iriskon, while Iriskon had black fur, Bilken's body was covered with tough gray scales, skin no fur, he looked kind of ugly. 

Iriskon closed the communication and dialed up for Spinx, this time, we saw her on the screen on the interface or what looked like a workstation on the bug fighter. 

"Iriskon! I'm glade to see that you have gotten away," Said a voice, I saw a Five's face, belonging to a possible slimmer smaller body, she had reddish brown hair, reddish fur and light brown markings. I noticed that she called him Iriskon, not commander. 

"Yes, me too." Iriskon replied briskly, "Spinx, did the Yeerks know that you escaped using a bug fighter?" 

"No." 

"Good, meet us at the largest planet of this system." Jupiter, why there? "We will board yours and dispose of the ship that we have, we want the Yeerk to think that we had a little…accident, they know I used this fighter and they will think us dead when they retrieve it from the planet." 

She nodded, "Understood." 

He switched off, it did look like he was in charge of her, she was under his command. We translated out of Z-space, looks like we over shot and Ax turned the fighter and headed for Jupiter. 

After a few minutes -according to Ax we were going at full burn- we reached Jupiter, the first time I actually saw the huge thing. Ha, you thing it looks big on the photos? Think again, even though I saw a quarter of it while the rest was bathed in darkness, it was totally humongous, bizarre, with all the moons around it and a very lame looking ring, lame compared to Saturn. 

We saw another bug-fighter waiting for us, Ax docked and blew the hatch open. We advanced into the other fighter. Spinx's eyes widened as she saw us Animorphs approach, she shot a look of disapproval at Iriskon, he smiled and shook his head, like he was sharing a secret, the smile was slick with evil anticipation. 

Swwaat! 

She flicked her tail gently. It didn't make the kind of crack Iriskon made when he was fighting - a lot gentler, actually nicer to hear - then she pulled her shoulders straight, ruffled her wings and shook her head slightly causing her short hair to flail gently around her eyes. A show of irritation, but the question was, just how irritated? 

"Iriskon, back to business." She snapped. She was defiantly pissed off. 

"Anything for you." He laughed as her ears flattened against her skull and she snapped her jaws shut making the teeth snap firmly. So far, all of her un-verbal remarks were done without any eye contact. Did this mean that she was afraid of him? 

Maybe, she was, after all I certainly didn't miss a certain note in his voice, this guy was flirting with her, and by the looks of it, he knew it would annoy her. What did it mean? 

After that small incident they got along fine, after ten minutes of silence I decided to break it up. 

"So, you guys already have a ship picked out for the occasion?" I joked. To my surprise Iriskon nodded, Spnix seemed to avoid talking to all of us. She talked only to Iriskon and made no eye contact whatsoever with any of us humans, nor with Tobias or Ax. Was she afraid? Shocked that we came from her home planet? I did not know. 

"Indeed," Iriskon said, "We had, the dome ship's name is _Tail Blade_, the Captain's name is Agrat-Elind-Earipal." 

I have hear about him, Ax said slowly, He is a relative to the Coorath family, they are well known for their high ranks in the military. 

"Commander, we have twenty minutes until we reach our contact, do you want to be the ones who contact our superiors?" 

Iriskon nodded, "Yes I will do so." 

"Do not forget your identification number," She growled. "You put us in big trouble last time when you forgot to mention it, in fact, if I remember, to which I do, you nearly got us killed!" 

"I wouldn't forget my identification number." He assured her. 

"That's what you told Raxon last time!" 

"Hey, look, I said I wouldn't forget." He said, irritated. 

"Very well then," she said eyeing him conspicuously, "I will rest for a few minutes." With that she disappeared in the single quarter. I think it is there to separate the Hork-Bajir from the Taxxon if they rest, who knows, maybe the Taxxon decides to chaw. 

"Females." He said dismissively. He said it as she entered the quarter; he had wanted her to hear it, she did not respond to his remark, just flicked her tail as the doors closed behind her. 

You find them inferior because they join the army ranks? Ax asked. 

"Not that, well yes, it's half of it, their presence is intimidating it's only that they-" He paused, not quite sure of what to say, like he didn't know how to phrase what he had in mind. 

"That they think they are Lords of the universe?" I supplied. 

His eyes brightened as Rachel and Cassie stared at us contemptuously, "Yes, but it's more like: They _know_ that they _are_ the Lords of the universe, and there is nothing we pitiful males could do about it." 

Rachel grinned, "Lesson well learnt." 

"Tell me all about it." I muttered, "You should see the way my dad acts when Nora is around, its sick." 

We spent the good boring fifteen minutes talking and chatting, Iriskon would eye me from time to time, like he was trying to study me when I wasn't looking, I pretended not to notice what he was doing and resumed the pointless prattle, Iriskon did not join in. 

Spnix returned from to us, she said something I didn't quite catch to Iriskon who nodded in agreement. 

Spnix managed the controls of the ship, Iriskon was pretending to supervise what she was doing but somehow, he was more like studying her than studying what she was doing. Ax seemed to be left out, he wasn't in control of any part of the ship. 

"We have a slight problem," He said, turning to face us, "We are the enemy, do you have any suggestions on how we show them that we are not enemies, after we translate out of Z-Space?" 

Suddenly, Ax has something to do. 

**__________________________________________**

**__________________________________________**

The Andalite finished talking to the Captain, we docked to their ship and we raced to the bridge. 

We had to work fast we were behind schedule. As I talked to the Captain, Spinx asked the warriors to back away from there work stations, it took us a full fifty minute argument to get control of the ship, the warriors stood back and Spinx started to work on the computers, boosting them, giving the ship technology that the Andalites had never glimpsed at before, but of course, in Vernin standards, we were not an impressive ship at all, a broken down Shlifter fighter would have no trouble killing us at easy. 

I did not mention any of those things, I was more concerned over Spnix, she was upset that these group of youths were going to be killed by team two, Spnix was not new to the Protectors, but this is the first time she did any field work, the first time she got to get out of the tight offices of the headquarters of the Protectors, you needed two years experience in the office then you got to go to field. Spnix had three yearsand no field experience; I served for the Protectors for over five years. Spnix is a Rookie, sort of. 

So I expected her to be sentimental, especially for a female and one who is a Chestnut breed. But when she sees the change in atmosphere when the prisoners where taken back to their homelands, she'll love it. 

You are an advanced race. The Captain remarked, I acknowledged his remark by nodding, I didn't want to show that I was uninterested with his remark, he was not my concern, I had a lot of work on my hands. 

The monitors showed an incoming message, I accepted, I knew who it was. 

"Comander, is every thing en route?" It was Raxon. 

"Yes." I replied, still working. 

"I see that we are a little behind schedule." 

"Yes, I know that, but we had unexpected trouble on Earth." 

"The headquarters say that it will not happen again." 

"Yes sir." I said mockingly, my eyes still glued to the computers as I wrote down the virus that would transform the technology. 

Raxon was a friend, so I never took him seriously, I'm always joking around him and he does the same around me. 

"Commander?" Raxon's voice was hesitant. 

I cocked my ears and glanced at the hologram of my friend, "Yes?" 

"Be careful my friend." 

I smiled, he was worried, "I will not fail to do so." 

"What's the guarantee of that?" 

I laughed, "Well if I don't come back, my soul would and it will haunt down that engine you took from that last mission. It was supposed to be my clam." 

"Me? Steal?" He made a show of looking outraged. "Watch it." 

I laughed. He laughed with me, then he said, "953167-2C, out." 

Then the hologram disappeared. As we worked Spnix talked to me as if the Andalites weren't there to overhear, she acted as if everyone on the bridge except me was inferior. 

"He is your friend?" She questioned. 

"Yes, he was the person who persuaded me to join with the Protectors."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Her voice changed, she was angry, probably because I had promised to do something I had forgotten about. I don't know why she was angry, her life was never at risk after the two occasions where I forgot to sate my identification number. She was safe and in the peace of her office at headquarters, in both incidents. 

I contacted head quarters with the most secure link I could find, a cold hard face stared at me, it was a Hiker breed, his yellow eyes studied me, he asked nothing of me, I was the one who had to talk, not him.

"Sector five formation, ISBR. Goal to contact." 

"Identification?" 

"891325-7S" Then we both shut off the link. 

After that nothing much happened I prepared the ship and wasn't interrupted by anything except for the nagging pain of my left pre-molar, it was in my upper jaw and was becoming a continuous harassment. 

"It's quite, so far." Marco told me. 

"It will not stay like that, I assure you, we are going to have to pass a very risky place. We may be detected by some of my specie's fighters who are on patrol." 

After another five minutes of peace, I saw Raxon's hologram reappear. 

"Commander, I have good news and bad news." 

"Give me the bad news first." 

"You pessimist." He said, "You are going to be intercepted by a fleet of six Wingers." 

I cursed, "The good?" 

"Merc and Bilken raided their base and came up with three Spiders, we are currently armed and ready." 

"Three Spiders?" Spinx asked, looking excited, "Surly not the model sixteen?" 

"The one and only." Raxon laughed. 

"I wish I was put on your team Raxon, Iriskon is no fun and all work." 

"Shut it." I said. To Raxon I said, "How much do we have?" 

"Oooh," He said, "Not more than sixty seconds." 

I accelerated to full speed. I could see that the Andalites were getting excited, after all, we where going to get chased. 

"We are going to have fun for a change," I drawled, "Spnix, you will not enjoy it." 

AFFFFFOOOOOM! 

I saw the translation from Q-space (Quantum) to Z-Space then to normal occur, my eyes are sensitive to the change of rays around the ship as the translations occurred, no one but I and Spnix noticed the translations, but now, through a hologram, I could see the Wingers starting formation, rotating around me. I knew better than to use the weapons at full they were too close, we would be blown. One of the Andalites so helpfully pointed that out for me. 

You can't shoot at this range! You'll blow the ship apart! 

"I know." I muttered. 

I suggest you let go of the dome. The Captain suggested, We have evacuated it, no one is inside. 

"That's good," I sighed with relief, "The Wingers will destroy it though." 

I released the dome; it fell behind and- well it no longer existed. 

"Raxon!" I yelled, he was still online with me, "Where the hell are you? I'm stuck here!" 

AFOOOOOOOM! 

The three spiders moved into place. 

I smiled. "It's show time." 

Two minutes have passed and no one had blown up, I was beginning to lose my patience, "They're just some Wingers!" I yelled, "Can't you idiots do anything?!" 

"Yes," Raxon was not taking my anger seriously, I knew he wouldn't, "We can, but we are in big trouble….Oh YAHhh!" 

I heard him, then I saw what had jarred Raxon. 

AFOOOOOOOOOM! 

_Eighteen_ fighters ran in formation with us, seven of them where Protector issues fighters. 

Tsssssssaap! 

One of our fighters blew up. 

Tssssssapp! 

A Winger exploded. 

A communication link appeared and after I made myself online with our fighters, I accepted the enemy. 

"You have made a mistake. 891325-7S" 

"Go to hell!" I yelled at him. 

"I am 135487-4A, you will be seeing me again, I assure you." 

He was a Imperial I hated him immediately. "We'll see about that." 

"My brothers will not fail to get you. You shall see for yourself." 

I cut off his communication only to be welcomed by the yells of the nine Protectors, I heard shouts and warnings I gave advice here and there, after all I was a veteran fighter pilot. 

Three wingers were left. There were five of our fighters left. I smiled. 

Suddenly… 

The ship's computers started screaming out warnings. I heard Raxon scream, "PULL UP you IDIOT!" 

A winger was heading to the dome ship's bridge, there were seventeen seconds to impact, things happened fast. 

"Pull up!" Spnix contacted the fighter, went on-line and yelled, "You fool, you'll burn!" 

I watched emotionless as Spnix started yelling hysterically at the winger. I terminated her link and formed another link to his fighter and started to talk to him, calmly, I was strangely in control of myself, no excitement, no anger, my heart was not hammering, as it should have. 

I spoke without any tone in my voice, "Pull up, you will not accomplish anything form that impact, your speed will probably penetrate the force field but you will _die_ and when you die you _lose_, I was a soldier once, and I if I ever understood anything it was this; dead warriors are useless to everybody-" 

Spnix cut in when she saw that there was nine seconds to impact. She yelled hysterically, out of control, the Andalites watched in horror as the fighter advanced with shocking speed, they watched the suicidal mission in silence, "Pull up, pull up! NOOO!" 

She tried to shove me off when I started to link to Bliken and Merc, she knew what I was going to do. 

"Don't, you can't do this!" She cried. 

"Just watch me." I replied. "Bliken, Merc: aim." 

"He's just doing his job, nothing more, it's his duty!" She pleaded, "This is murderous, the military never trained us to respond like this! This is criminal!" 

"Child we are rebels. We are already criminals." 

"Don't. It's wrong, we can't slay the blood of our brothers!" 

"I'm past that child, how do you think we win? You saw what the Wingers did, they attacked on sight." 

"But-" 

"If you have never walked down the aisles of the imprisoned then you have no idea of what it feels like." 

"You-" 

"On my count," I said, ignoring the screams of warning from both the ship's computers and Spnix's outrage. 

"Don't! Merc, Bilken! Raxon, please! Stop him!" 

Irritated by Spnix's behavior I contacted the fighter, "You have been warned, brother, leave us and live, there is one of your ships left, two against six. Leave." 

He stared at me, "NEVER!" 

I uttered my command my eyes fixed to the warrior's eyes. "Fire." 

It was so matter-of-a-fact. 

"Nooooooo!" 

The shock wave hit us, knocking half of the Andalites, the humans and Spnix off their feet. 

To my surprise it was not Spnix who had cried out, she was stupefied by what I had done, Cassie was the one who screamed at the last second. 

They got up to their feet, Spnix looked shocked, her eyes looked at me and then away, she was shaking, trembling, she looked as if someone had told her that the dead could wake up and come to life. 

"You. You. You dd-id it." She stated, her eyes stared blindly, "Killing off the other fighter was okay because it was in our defense, this warrior died to protect his people from what he was told is a threat." 

"Victory has its losses." I remarked coldly. 

"But…he-" 

"The military have another million warriors better then him, what he did was stupid and unreasonable." 

"But, an individually is irreplaceable." She whispered. 

I snorted at her, "And what do you know about him?" 

"Nothing, all I know is that he probably had a family in waiting, waiting for him to return. He could have been a son, a brother, a father and you will _never_ know!" She cried, "What will they tell them?" 

"Spnix, shut up or leave the bridge." 

She stomped her foot and glared at me, "Why?" 

"Commander, the other fighter is docking, he's coming to you." Raxon commented as if I hadn't noticed. "Merc had already docked and he is leading him towards you. I believe he has something to say." I acknowledged and Spnix turned to me. 

"So now you are going to kill him?" She asked something tingled inside her. She looked at me as if I was something dirty, "You _can't_ do this." 

"Just watch me." I sneered, the repetition stung her; I could see the evidence in her body language. 

I heard a bang followed by a sharp yelp. Merc and a bleeding warrior entered the bridge. 

"Spnix," Merc said calmly, looking at her hysterical state "Leave the bridge." 

She opened her mouth to protest, she looked lost, she closed her mouth, opened it to say something else, shook her head and started to cry. Cassie walked towards her and gently moved her out of the bridge Rachel went with them. 

I looked at Merc it had been three months since I last saw him, I never got the chance to see him until now, Merc was a black like me, the only difference was that I was heavier muscled then he was, also, his tail was cut short, probably by some fight, it will grow out again, but his left ear would not, it was shredded completely. 

I nodded to him, then I looked at the warrior, his hands where cuffed, he was bleeding badly; I did no care at all. All I cared for at the moment was that he _might_ have some valuble information. He was an Imperial breed, and the minute I acknowledged this piece of information I knew he was not going to spill. 

But I was not going to give up easily at all, maybe he would snap under pressure. 

"Your name?" I asked, curling my tail, a warning that I was going to use it. 

"Velder" He said, without flinching. "I am 135487-4A" 

"Ah!" I recognized him, he was the fool who decided to contact me. "So you where right about one thing, I haven't seen the last of you." 

Merc and I laughed at him, he stood tall and pride, in him I saw a shadow of who I used to be, before learning of the truth behind some of the experiments. He was a fool, like I used to be. 

Unlike me, he was going to stay like that. 

I turned to Merc, "Take us in to Q-Space, we need to get going." 

There was a slight commotion as we translated, mostly from the Andalites who yelled Impossible! 

"Velder. I have a simple question, and it needs a yes or no answer." I said, "Answer it and you live, refuse…" I let it hanging. 

"I don't fear death!" He yelled at me, "I won't help scum like you!" 

"Death?" I made to look horrified, "No, I will never promise you death. It's the easy way out, no fights. No I will not spoil the surprise." 

He exhaled heavily, his eyes held mine, his jaws locked. 

"Do the military know the Protector's headquarters' whereabouts?" It was the only question I would ask and the answer I needed. Badly. 

No answer, I walked round him, eyeing his build, he was not terribly huge for an Imperial, he was quite young actually, a pity to see him go to waste. 

I asked the question again. 

No answer. 

"You are tempting me to get rough." I growled, "Last time, yes? Or no? A very simple question to which you do know the answer to." 

No answer. My blood boiled. 

SHHHWWERRRRRTAAH! 

I flicked my tail at him, unlike to the Andalite where I cracked the air behind me, this time, I brought it in front of me and snapped, the tip aimed to hit a very vulnerable point. The flesh of his face, just near his eyes.

He fell to his knees. 

"This is a warning." I roared, "Answer my question!" 

There was no one but I and Merc on the bridge, Merc must have told them to get out, only the Captain and Jake stood, watching. Merc had warned them against interrupting. 

Velder stared at empty space, "I will not answer you." 

I snapped my tail, this time the tip hit his left eye, he screamed in agony, I wasn't sure whether I blinded him or not, but the pain was enough to convey my message to him. 

After an hour of merciless interrogation, I decided that I was going to keep him, Merc could finish off my work. 

"Merc?" 

"Yes, Commander." 

"Take our friend to a holding cell, I am not going to waste my time any more." 

"Should I kill him?" He was eager to do it I could see that. 

"No, I want him alive." 

Merc nodded, slightly disappointed. He left the bridge with Velder; I continued my work, in peace. 

**__________________________________________ **

**__________________________________________ **

She was still upset, Spnix, that is, she was so like Cassie that it was frightening. After ten minutes, the one called Merc walked down the corridor, where we were standing. 

With Merc was another of The Five. He was bleeding from a lot of places and his white fur was stained with blood. Spnix spun round and stared at them. 

"What did he do to him?" She asked bitterly, the white furred Five stared at empty space, acknowledging no one and nothing, his hands where cuffed. 

"Spnix, I know you are upset, but what we do is necessary." He paused, "You will understand later." 

"No I wouldn't, what you do is sickening." 

"Spnix this is the only way to do it." He said, coldly, "And next time the commander says something you obey it not object to it, you were lucky that I had the decency to tell you to leave the bridge, Iriskon would not have made you leave,"-he shoved the white furred Five in front of him-"He would have made you watch." 

"And I'm suppose to be grateful?" She demanded. 

He laughed and shook his head, "Commander was right, you are naïve." 

"And does he always talk about me behind my back?" 

"Only when he's cursing." He laughed again and shoved her out of his way. 

"What are you going to do?" 

"Have some fun, commander gave me the leverage to play with Velder, and he is not going to enjoy my game as much as I will." He laughed again. 

"You are as evil as he is!" She exclaimed. 

"Spnix," Merc turned around, "How long had you served the military?" 

"A few months." 

"How long did you serve the protectors?" 

"More than three years! Why?" 

"If you served under the military for a _few months_ then you do not know what true evil is." 

"Our military isn't evil!" 

"Spnix you are defiantly blind and deaf." 

"Arrh!" She snarled, "Will you explain why?" 

"You know why you joined the Protectors." 

"Yes I do, but the way you're talking tells me that there is something bigger going on, other than the raids and the experiments." 

"You are correct, don't you wish you weren't?" 

"What are they doing?" 

"That is highly classified." 

"You don't even know!" 

"That's your opinion." 

"You're such a-" 

"Come on Velder, we have to go, Spnix can talk all she likes but I know it's her efforts to stall me, Spnix, you are going to join Raxon, if you feel upset talk to him, I know he'll listen." 

"And you're saying you wouldn't?" 

"Talking to me is the relevance to talking to walls, I don't give when I get." 

"Is that so?" 

"Yes." 

She turned and marched away. 

"Where are you going?" 

"Talking to me is the relevance to talking to walls, I don't give when I get." 

Merc laughed, "You sound like a spoilt child." 

"And you know who you sound like?" 

"Me? What could I possible sound like? -No I don't know." 

"Then I wouldn't tell you." 

"Go away Spnix, I am not in the mood for your pouting." 

"A warrior got killed today." 

"They die every day." 

"What you did to him was terrible, you should be ashamed." 

"I'm a baaad boy." He drawled. Then laughed. 

"You-" 

"Enough talking already, are you coming with me or not?" 

"You can't make me." 

"I can." 

"Let's see you try t-" 

He grabbed her arm and started to drag her away, Velder looked at the two with an expression I could not interpret. 

"Arrrrh!" She cried out as he dragged her, she stuck her clawed feet to the ground. Her claws dragged at the ground, he couldn't drag her any further, she had stuck them in deep. 

"Come on." He said, then he let go of Velder and scooped her up, she yelled in anger but he didn't drop her. He then kicked Velder and ordered him to get up. He led them to an empty quarter, he shoved Velder in and programmed the doors to close. 

He set Spnix down, not too gently though. 

"What do you think you are doing?! Who do you think you are?!" 

"I am who I am, Spnix you better watch what you are saying." 

"Better watch what I'm saying?" She yelped, "What do you mean?" 

"I meant just that." 

"Or what? Huh, or what?" 

"Or else." He replied calmly. 

"Or else what?" 

"I'll kill you, regardless of what the others say." He hissed, his rage was very suddenly visible, "I will beat you to near death then grab your throat and choke off your air supply and watch you suffocate."

This seemed to shut her up, I wasn't so sure of what he's do if she started disobeying them again, some how I didn't believe he'd kill her, even though Spnix seemed convinced. 

"You stay put." He growled, "I have to report to Commander, Raxon hadn't arrived yet." 

She said nothing. 

"Is that clear?" 

She refused to acknowledge him, now I was really wondering why she was acting like such an idiot. 

"I SAID, IS THAT CLEAR?" He bellowed. 

"Yes sir." She mumbled. 

He scowled and marched away from us, and entered the bridge, I wasn't too happy that Jake was inside alone with the Captain and two aliens, but he said he'd be okay, he said that he was going to try and talk to the Captain and see if he could get them to understand our critical situation. 

Once Merc was out of sight Spnix jumped up looked around, totally ignoring us, spun to the door, she fidgeted around with the controls and the door opened, she glanced around once more and disappeared inside, the door closing behind her. 

I stared at my friends and they stared back, Cassie was the first one to speak. 

"It was wrong, you know, what they did." 

I sighed, "Have this conversation with Jake, he'd answer." 

"What do you make out of it?" Rachel asked, looking at me. 

"All of a sudden you care about what you I'd say?" I replied looking surprised. 

"No you idiot, you're the only one of us aside from Jake that could see a bigger picture, you know the motives," She flashed me a smile. "Also, you're as creepy looking as they are." 

"Hah, hah and another hah!" I snorted. 

"So do you or do you not?" 

"Do I what?" 

"Know what their game is?" She said, exasperated. 

I smiled, "Not really, but I'm sensing the that the whole save the raided aliens is a just a way to get at another thing, I'm thinking that Iriskon knows what he's doing, so does Merc, by the looks of it Raxon doesn't. I think that Raxon isn't suppose to make it this far and Merc knows this." 

She looked at me, and then she looked behind me, "Here's Jake." 

Jake made a grinding sound then said, "Bilken is dead, Iriskon says we'd have two hours until we reach the target location." 

"Bad news huh?" Rachel muttered. 

We looked at Jake he shook his head, "I'm clueless, don't look at me like that. But I do have some really great news." 

"What?" Cassie asked, "Is there such thing as good news around here? I thought that was asking the impossible." 

"There is an Andalite fleet heading to earth, it would take them a few days to reach Earth." 

"Then what are we waiting for? Lets go fight!" That was Rachel in case you couldn't tell. 

Jake shook his head, "That's impossible, we are a long, long way from Earth." 

"We are not," Rachel, argued, "How long did it take us to get here?" 

Where is here anyway? Tobias countered. 

We all looked at Ax. 

I have no idea. 

"The problem is, The Five are not going to let us back the way we came in, remember? They used advanced technology, and that's not going to happen again." 

"So what are we going to do? Oh-fearless leader?" I said sarcastically, "Fold our arms and sit tight while all hell breaks lose?" 

"Marco, I already said that we couldn't go back home-" 

"Not _that_, I'm not dieing to die." I grinned crazily, "No I was talking about the whole thing with The Five." 

"I was hoping you wouldn't say that." He grumbled. 

"Oh come on." I said, "You know how much I love to stick my nose in other people's business." 

"Hey what's up with you?" Rachel wondered, "I always thought you where the last to vote for battle, or anything around that mark. What's wrong? Can't get enough sleep?" 

"No, the _only_ reason I'm for this is because there's something not right about this. I mean, come on, get realistic, why would a bunch of murderers care for other aliens welfare? And by the way they talk about the Protectors and their 'head quarters' and the years they spend in this cult or group or whatever they are, something a bit more than saving pathetic aliens is happing, my view? Forget that they care about saving aliens they're playing some other game as well." 

You sound confident of what you are saying. Ax stated. 

"I am, and I think Iriskon figured that about me, I caught him looking at me a few dozen times, he's keeping his guard up, and that's not good, not good at all." 

"You really believe what you said, right?" Rachel was doubtful. 

Marco, not all beings care about themselves, there are races that devote their entire lives in saving other races. Ax told me. 

I shook my head, "Trust me on this one, I _know_." 

What is the basis of your confidence? Ax asked me. 

I smiled, "He's too like us, way too much." 

"Like us?" Jake said, "What do you mean by that?" 

"They originated from Earth, Jake, doesn't that tell you _anything_ about them?" 

Marco's right. Tobias said, It's so typically that we're over looking it. The whole Protector thing is a scam to cover up something else. They think like predators, they know when to attack and when not to. They are like us. 

"You're right." Cassie said, Jake looked at her surprised, "They are like us, but Marco? Tobias? What you said was partial right, they do think like us, but they are sentimental, most of them by the looks of it, Spnix is decent, and so far, so is Raxon. Iriskon and Merc aren't. This means we are dealing with creatures that think at our level, which brings me to something else. One of the real reasons to why they are so much like us" 

"And what's that?" I asked 

"You saw what that warrior did, this only means that they are willing to sacrifice their lives to prove something, only a human would do that, only a human would sacrifice his or her life to get a message across. And only a human would care if that person dies for it or not. The death of the warrior affected both Spnix and Iriskon, but differently." 

She paused then continued, "Iriskon got mad because he was being challenged, Spnix was scared because she saw power in the decision of the warrior, she saw that he could have gotten away but he chose not to. He chose to sacrifice his life in a way to prove, to show, that justice will come along and destroy the criminals, she knew that he was smart enough to know that his death would do no more than convey the message that sooner or later Iriskon would get caught. 

"Spnix was upset because that's only normal for her to get distressed when she sees someone dieing for a pointless reason. She saw someone dying and she couldn't do anything about it, it disturbed her and she cared, what's more astonishing that she didn't know the guy, and yet she cared, only a human would have done the same." 

She looked at the ground, "One of the most distinguishing thing about a human being is not in appearance, and not about the way we quickly adapt to our surrounds or the way we work out situations." She paused again. "I asked my grandfather once; what's a human, what does it mean when we say you're not being human? And he said 'Human is human because of the way he acts, he is different from Mother Nature, because only a human could care for things that don't care about him. And that's the only thing that makes you truly human. 

"And you see that all the time, the things we do, Marco once screwed up because some old man was being bullied, Rachel got mad because some guy was mistreating the elephants. Tobias helped lead a man to finding his lost son, we created a valley of Free Hork-Bajir's, the way we make moral decisions, the way-" 

"The way you care about Yeerks." I interrupted, smiling. 

She smiled back, "Yes, also, a lot of other things our race does, like saving a doomed whale's life, relocating animals since they are in a bad place, we save animals lives and some times gets hurt for it, we do things and get nothing in return, the only thing we look for is a feeling you get when you did something significant, something that makes a difference, even though it doesn't help you at all." 

It was impossible not to feel a warm glow when Cassie finished speaking, at this point I really admired Cassie, she really did see what I saw, but she was reminding me that even though Iriskon was evil the rest of The Five were not. She _did_ have the diplomatic touch, and at the same time, she taught me something. 

Interesting, Ax mumbled, A wonder to why I never really understood you humans. 

"Ax, it's more than just understanding, it's learning." Cassie said quietly. 

"So, that settles it huh?" I broke in, "We are going to shove our noses in other people's businesses?" 

"Since when didn't we?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, well this time, the opponent is just more than smart, they're deadly." Jake reminded us. 

Like we even needed reminding, we had that in mind, no way was I going to forget that. 

No way. 

**__________________________________________ **


End file.
